China property tycoon blames state for prices

AFP, BEIJING

Fri, Jan 04, 2013 - Page 15

A Chinese property tycoon blamed a government “land famine” for high property prices — which China has long sought to rein in — after he paid 1 billion yuan (US$160 million) for a plot in Beijing.

Ren Zhiqiang (任志強), a prominent real-estate tycoon, paid the mammoth price for development land in a suburb of the capital before turning to a local microblogging site, where he has 13 million followers.

“For fear of sky-high prices, [the government] has stopped holding many land auctions and reduced the supply of land, creating a land famine that has led to sky-high prices,” he said.

“Does the government think it can control property price increases by reducing the land supply?” he said. “This is neither good for companies nor for society,” he added. “But to survive in a land monopoly and shortage means doing whatever you can.”